Five Swedes headed to state

Last Updated on Thursday, 18 February 2010 04:06
Written by Deb Egenberger
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:00

Gothenburg wrestlers set their sights on state hardware.

COZAD—Only one goal remains for Gothenburg’s wrestlers: Bring home a state medal.

“Our expectations have changed,” said Swede coach Eric Manstedt after the weekend’s B-4 district meet at Cozad. “It’s not enough just to get to state. I don’t care what color it is, it’s time to bring home some hardware.”

Five Gothenburg wrestlers will have the opportunity to wrestle at the Qwest Center in Omaha during the Nebraska State Wrestling Championships which begin Thursday.

The last Gothenburg wrestler to earn a medal at state was Brandon Koch, who won the heavyweight title in 2001.

“Bringing home a medal would be another step forward for the program,” Manstedt said.

The five Swedes with the chance to achieve that goal are Mitch Spiegel, Tanner Schwanz, Bryce Eggleston, Kyle Demoret and Dane Ehlers.

Spiegel was the lone Swede to earn a district title. He cruised through the eight-man 103-pound bracket with two pins and a 7-0 decision.

“Mitch wrestled very solid, very smart,” Manstedt said.

Spiegel, a sophomore, makes a return trip to Omaha. He was eliminated after two straight losses last year.

Tanner Schwanz and Kyle Demoret each finished second in their district weight class.

Schwanz, a junior, made it to state at 103 pounds as a freshman and 112 pounds as a sophomore. This year Schwanz will wrestle at 119 pounds.

A first-round bye, quarter-final pin and semi-final decision got Schwanz to the championship match where he met undefeated and No. 1 state-ranked Nathaneal Morgan of McCook.

“Tanner was hanging with him,” Manstedt said of Morgan. “It was a classic example of how you can’t let up, even for a second. You have to be in attack mode all the time. Tanner got caught flat footed and got pinned.”

Manstedt said Morgan is a two-time state medalist and is on a mission for a championship this year.

“But Tanner is chomping at the bit too,” the coach said. “He really needs to walk away from state with a medal.”

At 160 pounds, Demoret made his way to the district championship match with a pin and a 5-1 decision.

Facing Tyson Lanka of Ogallala in the finals, Manstedt said Demoret had the advantage.

“Kyle out wrestled the kid, he just couldn’t quite seal the deal,” he said.

Demoret lost the 5-4 decision.

“Kyle is a kid whose pace never changes,” Manstedt said. “He’s in high gear all the time. He creates opportunities for himself because he’s a goer.”

Bryce Eggleston and Dane Ehlers each earned their trip to state with fourth-place finishes.

“Sometimes when you get through the heart-break round and you know you’ve made it to state, the pressure is off and the tendency is to let up a little,” Manstedt said. “I think that might have happened a little for both those guys.”

Eggleston pinned his first-round opponent in the 130-pound weight class before being pinned by Colton Derr of Cozad in the semi-finals.

Eggleston earned a 7-1 decision win in the consolation semi-finals to advance to the qualifying round.

“Bryce put himself in a position to qualify,” Manstedt said. “I’m proud of him getting to state as a sophomore.”

Eggleston was pinned by Colby Riesen of Chadron to get fourth.

Ehlers took a little different route to state.

He pinned two guys in the championship bracket of the heavyweight class before falling in the semi-finals to Zachery Sandstrom of Chadron.

Ehlers then had to win in the consolation semi-finals to get his medal and he did. He pinned Ross Stewart of McCook.

“I am just so very amazed at how far Dane has come since the beginning of the season,” Manstedt said. “He’s 1,000% better.”

Ehlers got pinned in the consolation finals by Pedro Garcia of Cozad.

“All these kids who qualify are coming back next year,” Manstedt said. “That’s huge. I just wish all of my guys could have qualified so I didn’t have to figure out how to console any of them.”

As a team, the Swedes finished seventh of 12 with 100 points. Chadron took home the district title with 151 team points.

The state tournament begins Thursday in Omaha. Class B starts at 8:30 a.m. with quarter-finals at noon.

112—Dillon Larson lost 8-2 decision to James Garcia of Ogallala; won 7-5 decision over Dane Aurich of Sidney; was pinned by James Lopez of Gering in 1:25.

119—Tanner Schwanz pinned Nathan Garcia of Ogallala in 1:03; won 9-6 decision over Brandon Dehling of Chadron; was pinned by Nathanael Morgan of McCook in 3:42; second place.

125—Justin Larson was pinned by Tyson Dowler of Alliance in 5:34; won 14-6 major decision over Grand Rimington of Gering; lost 7-3 decision to Caleb Lucero of Cozad.

130—Bryce Eggleston pinned Brandon Finkey of Alliance in 1:55; was pinned by Colton Derr of Cozad in 1:59; won 7-1 decision over Travis Sweetser of Sidney; was pinned by Colby Riesen of Chadron in 1:35; fourth place.

135—Chris Hyde was pinned by Dylan Wolf of Gering in 2:30; pinned Matthias Becker of Holdrege in 3:24; was pinned by Drew Sandoz of Alliance in 4:01.

140—Eric Stevens lost 3-1 decision to Charles Burkhardt of Gering; won 15-2 major decision over Brenan Roach of Sidney; lost 7-1 decision to Keldon Osterman of McCook.

145—Alex McClement was pinned by Spencer Isaacson of Holdrege in 1:27; was pinned by Bernardo Revelo of Cozad in 4:45.

152—Jesse Larson was pinned by Kohlton Price of Sidney in 1:42; lost 2-0 decision to Andrew Garza of Alliance.

160—Kyle Demoret pinned Alex Jacobsen of Sidney in 5:49; won 5-1 decision over Jeffry Phelps of McCook; lost 5-4 decision to Tyson Lanka of Ogallala; second place.

171—Cameron Frazho was pinned by Will Brown of Chadron in 3:11; lost 9-5 decision to Devin O’Brien of Broken Bow.

215—Tommy France won 9-0 major decision over Daniel Chacon of Cozad; was pinned by Tyler Sleicher of Broken Bow in 1:28; was pinned by Austin Brown of Chadron in 3:21.

285—Dane Ehlers pinned Tanner Jackson of Broken Bow in 43 seconds; pinned Armando Chavez of Gering in 5:24; was pinned by Zachery Sandstrom of Chadron in 1:17; pinned Ross Stewart of McCook in 3:09; was pinned by Pedro Garcia of Cozad in 3:25; fourth place.

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